1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, an electronic mail server, and a communication terminal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional electronic mail system, an electronic mail is transmitted from a transmitting communication terminal and the transmitted electronic mail is stored in an electronic mail server. A receiving communication terminal accesses the electronic mail server so as to retrieve the electronic mail addressed to the receiving communication terminal from the electronic mail server.
The electronic mail server registers and manages address information of the receiving communication terminals. The transmitting communication terminal adds the address information to an electronic mail and transmits the addressed electronic mail to the electronic mail server. The electronic mail server stores the received electronic mail in a mail box corresponding to the address information added to the electronic mail.
The receiving communication terminal asks the electronic main server for an electronic mail addressed to the receiving communication terminal. When the electronic mail server has stored an electronic mail addressed to the receiving communication terminal, the receiving communication terminal sends an electronic mail retrieval request to the electronic mail server and receives the electronic main therefrom.
In such an electronic mail system, when the electronic mail server has received an electronic mail addressed to a receiving communication terminal, the receiving communication terminal cannot be informed of the electronic mail stored in the mail box of the electronic mail server. Thus, the receiving communication terminal cannot receive an urgent electronic mail.
In order to solve such a problem, when the electronic mail server has received an electronic mail addressed to a receiving communication terminal or pager registered in the electronic mail server, it informs the registered receiving communication terminal or pager of the reception of the electronic mail. Thus, the user of the registered receiving communication terminal or pager can know that the electronic mail server has received the electronic mail addressed to the user. This electronic mail system has been proposed in, for example, JPA-5-110596 and JPA-2-21969.
However, the conventional electronic mail system having such a reception informing function only informs the reception-side-user of the fact that the electronic mail server has received an electronic mail addressed to the user. Thus, the reception-side-user needs to transmit an electronic mail retrieval request to the electronic mail server and receive the electronic mail therefrom. Consequently, in the conventional electronic mail system, the reception-side-user needs to perform complicated operations.